Developmental and contextual factors in the role of severe childhood trauma in geriatric depression: The sample case of former indentured child laborers

The purpose of this study was to quantify the association between childhood traumatic experiences and geriatric depression (GDS) in a population of elderly who were exposed to severe childhood trauma. We aimed to identify the role of childhood maltreatment exposure in geriatric depression and the developmental and contextual factors that exacerbate this relationship. We interviewed 141 former indentured child laborers (58 females) about their experiences as children and their current depressive symptoms (M_age = 77, SD = 6.8). Participants provided their age, the year they were first indentured, duration indentured, current physical health, completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Child maltreatment, specifically emotional abuse, was strongly associated with geriatric depression symptoms. These effects were specific to individuals who were removed from their biological families between the ages of 3 and 9 years, and for children who were indentured for 6–12 years. Finally, depression partially mediated the association between medical conditions and daily health impairment, but not for individuals “at risk” for depression by virtue of their maltreatment experiences. This study was conducted with a specific subpopulation of elderly and therefore may not generalize to all geriatric depression, nor to all generations or populations with exposure to childhood adversity. This study demonstrates the importance of using a developmental framework to understand how childhood maltreatment facilitates increased risk for the development of depression in late life.     

Children's learning and developmental potential: examining the theoretical informants of early childhood curricula from the educator's perspective

The early childhood curriculum is informed by a complicated array of developmental and learning theories. In recent times these theories have been most readily articulated in approaches to curriculum planning emerging from the Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) guidelines and the project work in Reggio Emilia. Drawing on a common theoretical heritage, each of these approaches places a certain emphasis on ideas emerging from cognitive constructivism and developmental theory. This paper explores the nature of these theoretical informants as they are played out in both DAP and Reggio Emilia. Findings from a study aimed at examining educators' conceptions of cognitive constructivism and developmental theory as utilised by DAP are reported, with the responses by four educators regarding these understandings in relation to their developing awareness of the Reggio Emilia approach detailed. The paper identifies differences in orientation between the educators' conceptions of developmental theory and constructivism relative to DAP and Reggio, and indicates the potential value further research in this area holds for examining how common theoretical informants can be played out to different effect across early childhood curricula.     

Affect: a tool to support pedagogical change

In the early childhood education field, the way children are conceptualised has substantially shifted in recent times. Child development theory has been unsettled as the single canon of early childhood practice. This has in turn challenged constructions of educators as keepers of a universal knowledge base, and as apolitical, non-interventionist facilitators of the natural unfolding development of individuals. While reconceptualising the early childhood knowledge base has oriented theorists and activists towards equity, unsettling educator subjectivities requires careful consideration in a feminised profession such as early childhood education. There is a need for greater discussion about how educators experience the uncertainties that accompany profound changes in teaching practice and identities and how educators can harness these uncertainties in ways that strengthen the profession. In this paper, I offer excerpts from teacher research that show how theories of affect support practitioners to engage productively the reflexivity needed to reconceptualise their roles as educators. I use affect theory to consider how the intra- and inter-personal dimensions of critically reflective practice can bolster the democratic and collectivist orientations in the teaching profession.     

Desiring development? Psychoanalytic contributions to antidevelopmental psychology

This paper explores how psychoanalytic ideas might support a project of critiquing the developmental paradigm as it influences, and links, models of economic and individual development on which educational policy and practice rely. After outlining the conceptual domain and questions at issue, the paper rereads some key claims about Enlightenment and its relationship with representations of immaturity as inviting scope for reinterpreting contemporary intensifications of developmentalism. This provides some further rationale and focus for the turn to psychoanalysis as a critical conceptual and methodological resource (although with some key qualifications). Ideas drawn from feminist and postcolonial engagements with psychoanalysis are used to inform discussion of two indicative texts about childhood, drawing on contemporary Lacanian interpretations that are applied to address the problematic of childhood, before finishing with some speculations on alternative modes of engagement with Enlightenment and developmental approaches.     

Two approaches to teaching transformational lesson planning

Abstract

Teaching teachers to write lessons that exemplify transformational curriculum is vitally important, yet challenges face early childhood teacher educators who attempt this task. Two approaches for writing lesson plans are outlined, and the benefits of these planning approaches are described. Students become more knowledgeable about different types of objectives, about national standards and benchmarks, and about developmentally appropriate practice, emergent curriculum, and transformational curriculum. Students become more skilled at writing developmental and subject matter objectives, creating appropriate assessments for objectives, and articulating connections between objectives and standards and benchmarks. Finally, students become more focused on educational objectives and child outcomes.     

Professionalising teaching in HE: the impact of an institutional fellowship scheme in the UK

The professionalisation of teaching in higher education has been increasingly prioritised across the globe in response to changes in the scale and nature of higher education brought about by massification, marketisation and managerialism. The UK experience has been characterised by the application of codified professional standards and this is of wider interest as perhaps the most developed attempt to formalise and systematise approaches to teacher development utilising such standards. Increasingly, this has focused on the ongoing development of existing staff in addition to new entrants to the profession. Institutional schemes underpinned by the United Kingdom Professional Standards Framework have rapidly spread throughout the sector offering a route for experienced staff to achieve fellowships of the UK Higher Education Academy. However, research into the effects of such schemes on individual participants and institutions has been limited. This article analyses the impact of such a scheme within the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences at Leeds Beckett University in the UK, drawing on data derived from in-depth interviews with scheme participants. Practice theories were applied as a frame for analysis of the developmental impact of the scheme through exploration of the practices involved in participation and how these meshed with other practices related to teaching and learning. This suggested that whilst such schemes may be an acceptable form of retrospective benchmarking, the ongoing developmental impact may be limited.     

Do developmental mathematics programs have a causal impact on student retention? An application of discrete-time survival and regression-discontinuity analysis

The impact of academic programs—such as developmental mathematics programs—on student retention, has been a controversial topic for administrators, policy makers, and faculty in higher education. Despite deep interest in the effectiveness of these programs in retaining students, scholars have been unable to determine whether such programs have a causal impact on student retention. Rather than assigning students to a developmental program based on a random assignment process as in a true experiment, most of the existing research up to this point has been non-experimental and has focused exclusively on whether student background and demographic characteristics are statistically significant predictors of dropout. Furthermore, prior research is also limited by its reliance on cross-sectional, retrospective designs despite the longitudinal nature of the dropout phenomenon. In this paper, I report the results of a unique piece of research which embeds a regression-discontinuity design within the framework provided by discrete-time survival analysis. By combining these two approaches, I was able to obtain an unbiased estimate of the causal impact of participating in a developmental program in mathematics, and confirm that the risk of leaving college among students who participate in developmental mathematics programs was significantly lower than for equivalent students who did not participate in such programs.     

Literary critic versus expert commentator: The case of katharine tozer'sMumfie marches on

Nicholas Tucker taught English in comprehensive schools in London before qualifying as an educational psychologist. He is now a lecturer in developmental psychology at the University of Sussex, with a special interest both in children's reactions to literature and in the history and present-day status of childhood itself. He has written five books for children as well as books about children's literature, includingThe Child and the Book: A Literary and Psychological Exploration, reissued in 1990 by Cambridge University Press in their new Canto “Classics” series.     

Curriculum in early childhood education: critical questions about content,coherence, and control

A continuing struggle over curriculum in early childhood education is evident in contemporary research and debate at national and international levels. This reflects the dominant influence of developmental psychology in international discourses, and in policy frameworks that determine approaches to curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Focusing on early childhood education, we argue that this struggle generates critical questions about three significant themes within curriculum theory: content, coherence, and control. We outline two positions from which these themes can be understood: Developmental and Educational Psychology and contemporary policy frameworks. We argue that within and between these positions, curriculum content, coherence, and control are viewed in different and sometimes oppositional ways. Following this analysis, we propose that a focus on ‘working theories’ as a third position offers possibilities for addressing some of these continuing struggles, by exploring different implications for how content, coherence, and control might be understood. We conclude that asking critical questions of curriculum in early childhood education is a necessary endeavour to develop alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding the ways in which curriculum can be considered alongside pedagogy, assessment, play, and learning.     

Developmental risk factors for sexual offending

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to identify the general, common, and specific developmental risk factors for pedophilia, exhibitionism, rape, and multiple paraphilia, and to address five methodological issues observed in this area of research. METHOD: This study involved 64 sex offenders and 33 nonsex, nondrug-related, and nonviolent property offenders. The group of 64 sex offenders was further divided into eight subgroups, some of which overlapped in memberships because of multiple diagnoses. To overcome the methodological problem associated with overlapping group memberships, a special approach involving comparisons of sets of logistic regression analyses was adopted. Offenders were clinically assessed for evidence of paraphilias, and their adverse childhood experiences were measured by a battery of tests. RESULTS: Childhood Emotional Abuse and Family Dysfunction, Childhood Behavior Problems, and Childhood Sexual Abuse were found to be general developmental risk factors for paraphilias. Furthermore, Childhood Emotional Abuse and Family Dysfunction was found to be a common developmental risk factor for pedophilia, exhibitionism, rape, or multiple paraphilia. Additional analyses revealed that childhood emotional abuse contributed significantly as a common developmental risk factor compared to family dysfunction. Besides, Childhood Sexual Abuse was found to be a specific developmental risk factor for pedophilia. CONCLUSIONS: The study has supported the value of conceptualizing certain childhood adversities as developmental risk factors for paraphilic behaviors. The role of childhood emotional abuse as an important developmental risk contributor, and the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and pedophilia are of theoretical significance. Furthermore, the results have significant implications for the prevention of childhood abuse and treatment of sex offenders.     

Early childhood education: Notes from the past for the future

Early childhood education has made great progress internationally in the last thirty years, in large measure through the efforts of researchers and practitioners. In contrast, many governments have failed to establish the unified systems of management and administration recognized as essential since the 1970s. Maintaining dual systems, they have not been able to generate and implement a coherent curriculum or unitary training programs for practitioners. As these are achieved, it will be necessary to include in the academic components of practitioner education programs a knowledge base about child development and its facilitation. The theoretical underpinnings and empirical findings supporting this knowledge base were established in the 1960s and 1970s. However, they have been ignored or re-invented as subsequent fashions succeed each other. The central components of this knowledge base are recapitulated.     

Exploring intercultural competence through the lens of self-authorship

Intercultural competence among educators has long been recognised as important, especially in contexts characterised by growing and shifting cultural diversity such as Australia. However, the capacity to be interculturally competent has only recently been enshrined in teacher standards in Australia, and research into this field among early childhood educators is fledgling. Through the theoretical lens of self-authorship, this case study integrated a developmental model of intercultural maturity with a compositional model of intercultural competence. Combining these two models allowed for a holistic exploration of the complexities of intercultural experiences in an early childhood educational setting. This new integrated framework is applied to a case study that focuses on Heidi, an early childhood educator in a culturally diverse kindergarten. Data were collected through interviews, classroom observations and analysis of philosophy, policy and observational documents. The findings indicated the importance of critical reflection and internal meaning making, as part of a self-authored identity, in relation to intercultural competence. Implications are discussed with a focus on the potential significance of the integrated framework to explore as well as enhance educators’ critical reflection about their intercultural experiences.     

Applications of Temperament: A Review of Caregiver-Focused Temperament-Driven Interventions

Research Findings: Temperament, often defined in terms of reactive and regulatory tendencies, has been shown to predict child outcomes over and above other risk factors and represents a critical aspect of social-emotional development. The present article is a systematic review of temperament-based interventions targeting caregivers, wherein the aim is to inform caregivers about temperament in an effort to influence a variety of outcomes, such as goodness of fit, parenting stress, achievement, and behavior problems. In total, 13 randomized and nonrandomized trials were reviewed, with promising outcomes. Temperament-driven interventions have demonstrated the capacity to increase parental knowledge of temperament, reduce behavior problems, improve math and reading achievement, create more positive teacher–child relationships, and reduce numbers of medical visits. Caregivers report satisfaction with and usefulness of the interventions, which suggests promise for future application of temperament-based approaches. Temperament-driven interventions can be leveraged to improve multiple developmental outcomes, especially in early childhood, and are useful for both teachers and parents. Practice or Policy: Implications of temperament-based interventions for early childhood educators are discussed, as are limitations and future directions.     

Biting Behaviors Among Preschoolers: A Review of the Literature and Survey of Practitioners

Biting behavior occurs frequently among young children in child care settings. Research indicates several possible reasons for biting behavior including developmental as well as emotional issues. This study examines procedures that have been established to handle childhood biting by early childhood education child care facilities in a southeastern state of the United States. We were interested in whether these child care providers considered biting a normal developmental behavior or an abnormal, dysfunctional behavior. Additionally, how did their philosophy about childhood biting relate to their handling of biting incidents in their facilities?     

Toward a Model for Early Childhood Environmental Education: Foregrounding,Developing, and Connecting Knowledge Through Play-Based Learning

Environmental education represents a growing area of interest in early childhood education, especially since the inclusion of environmental principles and practices in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework. Traditionally, these two fields of education have been characterized by diverse pedagogical emphases. This article considers how teachers in particular see different types of pedagogical play, such as open-ended play, modeled play, and purposefully framed play as providing opportunities for young children and teachers to develop knowledge through experiences about environmental education in early childhood settings. As a result of findings based on our qualitative research study involving early childhood teachers and children, an emerging model for thinking about environmental education in early childhood is proposed as a way of integrating these pedagogical emphases traditionally associated with environmental and early childhood education. Avenues for future research associated with this model are also identified.     

A survey of school psychologists' perspectives and practices with childhood depression

Despite some controversy, there is an emerging body of knowledge regarding the nature, prevalence, assessment, and treatment of childhood depression. The following study was undertaken to determine how this knowledge compares with the perceptions and practices of school psychologists in two north central states. A need for school psychologists to define the concept of childhood depression is identified. Use of DSM III-R for the diagnosis of childhood depression in the schools and the inclusion of standardized measurement techniques in the assessment process are advocated. Involvement of school psychologists in the treatment process, either directly or indirectly, is also recommended.     

Addressing the needs of Latino children: A national survey of state administrators of early childhood programs

This study consisted of a national survey of 117 state administrators of early childhood programs to examine specific challenges, strategies, and beliefs around serving Latino children and families. Four types of early childhood programs were represented: child care, Head Start, Part B-Section 619 preschool special education programs, and Part C infant-toddler programs for children with developmental disabilities. The survey consisted of 48 Likert scale items across six subscales to gather information about challenges and strategies for serving young Latino children and their families, as well as administrators’ beliefs about issues related to language development and early literacy learning, child assessment, approaches to support equity and diversity, and parental involvement. Administrators generally agreed on the importance of preserving a child's home language and the need to assess young children in either their home language or their home language and English. All four groups held similar views about strategies. The study found less agreement among groups on issues related to challenges, approaches to promoting diversity, and strategies for promoting parental involvement.     

Emotion dysregulation as a mediator between childhood emotional abuse and current depression in a low-income African-American sample

Abuse and neglect in childhood are well-established risk factors for later psychopathology. Past research has suggested that childhood emotional abuse may be particularly harmful to psychological development. The current cross-sectional study employed multiple regression techniques to assess the effects of childhood trauma on adulthood depression and emotion dysregulation in a large sample of mostly low-income African Americans recruited in an urban hospital. Bootstrap analyses were used to test emotion dysregulation as a potential mediator between emotional abuse in childhood and current depression. Childhood emotional abuse significantly predicted depressive symptoms even when accounting for all other childhood trauma types, and we found support for a complementary mediation of this relationship by emotion dysregulation. Our findings highlight the importance of emotion dysregulation and childhood emotional abuse in relation to adult depression. Moving forward, clinicians should consider the particular importance of emotional abuse in the development of depression, and future research should seek to identify mechanisms through which emotional abuse increases risk for depression and emotion dysregulation.